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98 comments on Agriculture Meets Peak Oil: Soil Association Conference

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quadour88 on February 1, 2007 - 2:56pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Sure organic farming is a good thing. Mainly here in Switzerland and also in Germany it is considerable growing market.

But keep in mind: organic broad acre cropping is delivering just 50% of the yield as traditional cropping does. Many people talking about this seemingly perfect picture - organic farming- don't know this very important issue. I'm sorry, but organic farming cannot feed the world.

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Chris Vernon on February 1, 2007 - 3:13pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

So is that "organic farming" or "organic broad acre cropping" that can't feed the world. My (limited) understanding is that organic farming can match "traditional" (thought that was an interesting use of the word traditional) faming in terms of productivity per unit area but a lot more variables had to be controlled and more labor was needed, i.e. it was harder.

That figure of 50%, is it rising or falling? My complete guess is that it is rising as organic practices tend to increase productivity over time through soil improvement and farmer experience. Where under "traditional" things go downhill as soils are degraded and those artificial inputs deplete.

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capslock on February 1, 2007 - 5:00pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I'm sorry, but organic farming cannot feed the world.

When pesticide and fertilizer and diesel fuel inputs become too expensive, it will have to do. World oil depletion will result in world population depletion.

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Dezakin on February 1, 2007 - 5:48pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Its hardly demonstrable that pesticide, fertilizer and diesel fuel will become too expensive.

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capslock on February 1, 2007 - 6:21pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

It is a fact unless you can demonstrate that the rate of petroleum production will increase in the future.

The law of supply and demand is not a theory.

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Dezakin on February 2, 2007 - 2:20pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

You misunderstand; All these inputs aren't solely dependant on petroleum. Pesticides and fertilizer can easily be manufactured with nuclear process heat and electricity, and diesel fuel can also at a high price.

Second, fuel demands for agriculture are relatively low while food demands are relatively high. There are plenty of surplus industries that will die first, from airlines to large commuter cars.

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98 comments on Agriculture Meets Peak Oil: Soil Association Conference

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